Message dispatcher for railroads



A ril 27, 1943. e. w. NORTH MESSAGE DISPATGHER FOR RAILROADS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Fil ed Oct. 7. 1942 152 1 vvaqys April 27, 1943. e. w.NORTH MESSAGE DI S PATGHER FOR RAILROADS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct 7,1942 W Q R Q A Patented Apr. 27, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MESSAGE DISPATCHER. FOR RAILROADS George WV. North, Boyceville. Wis.

Application October 7, 1942, Serial No. 461,087

4 Claims.

This invention relates to railway message dispatchers of a type alsoknown as train order holders.

In most instances train orders are delivered by station agents tovarious members of train crews as the train is passing a station byattaching the orders to light wooden hoops which have straight handlesextending tangentially therefrom. It is customary for the station agentto stand close to the track and reach outwith the hoop so that it can begrasped by a member of the train crew. This practice is extremelydangerous since the agent is likely to be struck by pieces of coalfalling from the tender andat night he might be struck by a board orother piece of material extending out from a car farther than it should.It is also necessary that the agent be standing in readiness to hand upthe order at the exact time the train is passing and even thoughrailroads are operated on schedules, the trains are not always on time.Thus considerable time is wasted which might be devoted to moreproductivity.

While numerous other train order dispatchers have been previouslydevised they have been found to either grip thecrder hoop too tightlythus making it difiicult to disengage or they grip the hoop so looselythat it might accidentally become disengaged by the wind.

It is a general object of my invention to provide a train messagedispatcher which will hold one or more hoops so that they will beconveniently and properly supported in a proper manher to be grasped bya trainman but at the same time will nicely and easily release the hoop.

A more specific objectof the invention is to provide a train messagedispatcher which is made up of a number of sections which are relativelyfreely yieldable in different directions so that when the hoop isgrasped by the trainman the support for the hoop can be made to give innearly any direction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a train messagedispatcher which has. improved hoop grasping jaws which satisfactorilyretain the hoop but which swingopen freely when thehoop is pulled.

These andother objects and advantages of the invention will more fullyappear from the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings, Whereinlike reference characters refer to thesame parts throughout the views, and, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of my invention with the supportingarmsraised to .a horizontal: position; 1

Fig.12-isa. front viewwith the arms lowered;

Fig..3.is atop .planof the .outerportion of an arm;

Fig.4 isa side elevation ofthat portionofthe armshowninFig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an end view of the outer. end of-an arm.

The .main supportof the apparatus is a :post 6 whichmay conveniently beembedded in-a block ofconcretei 1.. .Mountedon the post 6 are. threearms 8; Sand. ll). Thelower arm8 1 .1 end is providedon oneside, wi hStrap n onthe .other side with an angle iron l 2. The strapand angleiron-l hand l2 extend. rearwardly past the .end of the arm 8 and arepivotally-connected to the post 6 by means of a pivot bolt l3. The angleiron I2 is provided to lend; rigidity to lthe'pivot jointand said angleiron I2 and. strap, iron. Hare jbent downwardly; at an angle, as shownin Fig.1. Thiszpermi s th rm. 8 t swing from the: horizontal posit on oFi 1 t a. downwardly hanging positi.0n,,.as indicated in Fig. 2. The.arm, 9 isprovided with a similar pivot joint generally: indicated. at.I4, said pivotal connection l4:.being.connected to. a, main supportingpost portion. 15 which extends :laterally thence. downwardly from thetop .of the .main postfi. :The arm I0 is provided with a-pivotalconnection. -I 6 similar. to the onespreviouslydescribedand in turn isconnected .to asupportingxpost .portion I! which extendslaterally. andthence downwardly on the opposite fsidepf the main .postli. The.auxiliary .post portion 15 is somewhat: longer than .said post-portion.ll so that. when thearms are swung up to ithehorizontal positionsshownin Fig. 1 said arms8, 9 and :i ilwillbe located. at differentlevels.

The extending rear ends of the strap .irons' H and angle irons l2 areconnected to ropes v.or cables l8 which extend downwardly to. a reeljlilturned. by a. hand crank. 20. By .rotationof the reel l9 the. arms 8,Qandjll can be raised and lowered.

' Fi s.'3.- 4 and 5 .illustrateindetailthe construction of the outerends of the three arms, In Fig, 3 there is indicated. the extreme outerend of the, arm 8 -although,dof course. the structure is identical inthe: three arms. Extending outwardlybeyondttheend of said arm .8;is apair of straps 2| whichis'secured to ;the endsof said arms 8 by meansvof suitablescrews, 22. Each of'th s aps 2| is notched as at 3 toreceives. bolt n nutte i .ends. The, bolt' 2.4 :baspe pair of flangeswhich are positioned just inside the inner faces of the straps 2| asbest illustrated in Fig. 3, but are spaced slightly therefrom. Said bolt24 is made in two halves, one-half of which is adapted to telescope intothe other, as shown at 25. Nuts 21 on the ends of the bolt 24 draw thestraps 2| against the flanges 28 to secure the bolt to said flanges.

The bolt 24 passes through the inner end of an arm 29 which forms anextension of the arm 8 and, of course, the arms 9 and I0 in each unit ofthe structure. Between the sides of the extension arm 29 and the flanges28 are coil springs 30 which have oppositely extending ends 3| and 32.The spring ends 3| are bent inwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, and adapted tobe fitted into any one of a series of sockets 33 arranged on an arc inopposite sides of the extension arm 29 and the spring ends 32 areadapted to similarly fit into holes 34 formed in the metal plates 2|.Obviously difierent locations of the spring ends 3| and 32 in any oftheir respective sockets or holes will change the tensions of the coilsprings 30. This spring pivot permits the extension arms 29 to swingyieldably up and down, but the springs 39 are of sumcient strength tonormally hold the extension arm 29 in alignment with its respective mainarm 8, 9 or ill.

On the outer end of the extension arm 29 is a train order supporting arm35, which is supported on a pivot bolt 35 which extends through arms 29and 35 vertically and the train order supporting arm 35 rests upon asuitable bearing member 31. Extending inwardly from the outer orleft-hand end of the arm 35 is a bore 38 which is adapted to receive thestraight handle portion of a train order hoop such as the hoops 39 shownin Fig. 1.

. Secured to the train order supporting arm 35 is a pair of leaf springs40 which are secured at their rear ends, as-shown in Fig. 4, and arefree to move at their left-hand or outer ends. A pair of tension springs4| connect the leaf springs 40 and assist in normally urging them towardeach other. Pivotally mounted or hinged to the outer ends of said leafsprings 49 is a pair of jaw members 42, the hinges being indicated at43. On each of the jaws 42 is a hoop gripping block 44 which is providedwith a convex chamfer 45 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. A pair of stopmembers 46 limit the extent of movement of the leaf springs toward eachother and, of course, similar- 1y limit the movement of jaws 42 andblocks 44 toward each other.

A pair of tension springs 41 are connected between a plate 48 on therear end of the train ordersupporting arm 45 and a bracket 49 on theextension arm 29. These springs 4! permit yielding pivotal movement ofthe train order supporting arm 35 relative to the extension arm 29.

Mounted on each of the arm extensions 29 is a light fixture 50 which isarranged to direct its beam outwardly to illuminate the hoops 39 so thatthey can be readily seen at night. The lights 50 may be supplied withelectricity through a cable indicated at 5|.

The apparatus is, of course, adapted to be installed adjacent a railwaytrack at a station and so located that when the arms 8, 9 and ID areextended as in Fig. 1 the hoops 39 will be in a convenient position tobe grasped by the trainman. When a hoop is grabbed its supporting arm 35will swing in the direction of movement of the train and if it is pulledthe jaws 42 will swing open while the leaf springs 40 separate slightlyand the handle of the hoop will slip easily from the socket or bore 38.Should the trainman pull up or down as he grasps and pulls the hoop thearm extension 29 will yieldably tip up or down in the direction of pulland, consequently, the hoop cannot possibly jam to prevent its removalor to injure the trainmen.

In the drawings there are illustrated three arm assemblies. For example,if there are two engines in a train the upper arm assembly could be usedfor a message to be dispatched to the first engineer, the middle armassembly could be used for a message to be dispatched to the engineer ofthe second engine, and the lower unit could be used for a message to thebrakeman or other trainman in the caboose.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided arailway message dispatcher assembly which is so constructed that thehoop carrying the message will always quickly and easily slip from thedevice and that while several portions of the arm assembly are easilymovable out of their arm position they will return to their properposition as soon as the hoop has been released. The mechanism is simplein construction and is so formed that the ordinary strains imposed uponit will in no way injure it. It is simple to load and easily operated.Its cost is not great. It is adapted to save time on the part of thestation agent as well as to eliminate danger of injury such as has beenoutlined above.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various partswithout departing from the scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway message dispatcher, an upright, a plurality of armsconnected to said upright on horizontal pivots, each of said arms havinga resilient joint intermediate its ends to provide inner and outersections, said sections being normally held in alignment by saidresilient joint, an extension connected to each outer section by avertical pivot and held yieldingly in alignment therewith, saidextension having a longitudinal bore therein extending inwardly from theouter end thereof to receive the straight portion of a train order hoop,and yieldable jaw members adjacent the outer end of said bore toyieldably grip the train order hoop.

2. In a railway message dispatcher, an upright, an arm pivotallyconnected to said up right and adapted to swing relative to said uprightto a horizontal position, the outer end of said arm having alongitudinal bore therein to receive the straight portion of a trainorder hoop, and a pair of jaw members supported at the outer end of saidarm adjacent the end of said bore, said jaw members being movable awayfrom each other on lines substantially normal to said arms and alsobeing movable outwardly from the outer end of said arm.

3. In a railway message dispatcher, an arm adapted to be extendedoutwardly in a generally horizontal position, said arm having a socketextending in from its outer end 'to receive a straight portion of atrain order hoop, a pair of yieldable elements at opposite sides of saidarm normally tending to spring towards said arm, said yieldable elementshaving jaw members mounted thereon for pivotal movement relativethereto, and said jaw members being positioned at the open end of saidsocket and at the outer end of said arm.

4. In a railway message dispatcher, an arm adapted to be extendedoutwardly in a generally horizontal position, said arm having means atits outer end for engaging a portion of a mail order hoop, a pair ofyieldable elements at opposite sides of said arm adjacent said hoop en-

